KARTlK
12-22-2009, 09:38 PM
I need to upload the image still. Sorry.
I have to give a few thanks. First, to Trainingday/TinyBlkTears for letting me (I hope) shamelessly steal his guide format. His guides were amazing and I feel I cannot go wrong by following the style. Next to Norroar. He has inspired me to get on a smurf account that only plays deadwood to learn how to play him.
Learns Rotten Grasp, Uproot, Clearcutting, Willowmaker
Disclaimer: I don't want to mess with the formatting of this guide so I'm leaving this part in here. Anyway.
Deadwood is a GANKER. He can carry, yes, but should you be farming for 40 minutes in the jungle and come out with 4 mock of brilliances? Absolutely not. (Not even three of them. Haha). You play effectively the same role any other ganker does. Deadwood is really too new to classify whether he is imba or underpowered (though most see him as imba), so I'll go through his skills and their uses one by one, and eventually tell you how to combo them together.
Skills:
Rotton Grasp: Calling upon the deep corruption underground, Deadwood can root anyone standing in the targeted area after a short delay.
Target: Area
Type: Magic
Casting Range: 1500
Radius: 200
Time Rooted: 1.0/1.7/2.3/3.0 seconds
Mana cost: 120
Cooldown: 13 seconds
Cast Time: .5 Seconds
Trigger Time: 1.5 seconds
Applies Rotton Grasp to all units in the radius or all units that walk into the radius. Deals 100 damage per second. Immobilizes target. -2/-3/-4/-5 armor to all that enter.
Notes: Hope I didn't miss anything. This is one of the best ganking skills in the game. At 1500 range, and AoE, you don't need to be worried about being sighted before you cast it, and it synergizes great with your second/third skill. Although hitting this is pretty hard, we have a great alternative to hoping we can predict where they will go. This spell will also hit units that walk into it after it's casted similar to Tempest's ultimate.
Uproot/[Oakbolt]: Deadwood can turn any tree into a weapon by simply tearing it out of the ground. While holding a tree, he can throw it at an enemy, mini-stunning and snaring them. (Note: Since there are two skills the one in is Oakbolt)
Type: Target Tree[Tree or Enemy Unit]
Mana cost: 60[0]
Gives +15/+30/+45/+60 damage
When used, gives 5/6/7/8 charges to attack with a tree [slows targeted unit].
Deals 30/60/90/120 damage when thrown.
Has 100[650] range.
Cooldown of 15 seconds.
Notes: Completely baller skill. This CANNOT be avoided unless they blink dodge idk. But yeah I mean it's a pretty good skill. The little pick up tree thing gives you great damage to go with your root. What's pretty cool is that you can destroy a tree with this ability too. If you have full mana and there aren't any creeps or something, or you need to kill your nemesis? Tree Eyes, you can throw your tree onto a tree, and pick up a new tree. It's kind of helpful sometimes.
I'll discuss how to use this skill in end of my guide.
Tree-Walk (Now walk it out?): Deadwood, not known for his love of nature, can gain the ability to destroy trees he walks through. Empowered by the destruction he caused, Deadwood gains movement speed, attack speed, and slow resistance when destroying trees.
Target: Self
Mana cost: 50
Cooldown: 25 seconds
Applies Clearcutting to self for 12/14/16/18 seconds. Any tree run through and killed grants on charge. Maximum of 1/2/3/4 charges.
Each Charge grants:
+3% Movement Speed
+15 Attack Speed
+25% Slow Resistance
Notes: This skill is extremely straightforward. If you're going to kill someone, run through trees to get to them. There really isn't anything to say. Maybe just remember to use this when you escape.
One of the most underutilized things in HoN is fog. If you run in a circle around a tree, your enemy will have a very hard time following you since you are faster than him anyway. Remember to cut out your own paths and see if you can TP away while hiding in a space with only enough room for one person.
Willowmaker: An ageless and powerful force, Deadwood uses his stump arm to punch an enemy, dealing massive damage. The hit is so powerful a wave of force echoes behind the target, weakening those it hits.
Target: Enemy Unit
Range: 150 at all levels
Mana cost: 100/150/200
Cooldown: 105/85/65
If a unit is targetted, deals 400/600/800 Physical Damage and stuns the target for 1 second. Any enemy in a 90 degree 600 distance cone behind the target has Willowmaker applied to them for 5 seconds and are slowed for 1 second.
If the ground is targetted (PLEASE NEVER EVER DO THIS), no damage or stun occurs. The cone debuff still takes place from the point of impact.
Lowers the total strenth by 20/30/40%
Notes: What makes you such a great ganker. The damage is calculated after the strength is removed and this allows you to one hit almost every int hero. It's what makes you considered imba by some. Just an all around wrecking machine move. The only way to mess up with this ability is to misclick a creep or hit the ground. The cool down is fairly short, so if you can get a kill with it USE IT.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Core Analysis: This is where we analyze hero-specific stuff like stat/stat gain and movespeed.
So obviously Deadwood is a strength hero, and like his Cousin or brother or whatever KotF, he has a very high strength gain (refer to the picture at the top for the specifics). His agility is mediocre, and useless, and his int is pretty poor. He tanks himself up really quickly by doing nothing. Huge base strength as well. You ARE the tank for your team.
His base armor is 4.24, and his movement speed is 300. Nothing special (though his movement speed does seem low, it's not really a problem with his other skills).
All in all, just watch out and don't do anything stupid because you have some extra HP. It's enough to get you through a failed gank or team fight alive, but not enough to solo the fountain.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Skill build:
I'm going to have to offer you a choice here. Follow this questionnaire. Do you have a good lane partner that can stun and/or slow? Follow A. Are you not sure if your team mate is good/soloing mid/bot/top? Follow B. The format goes: Level: A/B
1: Uproot
2: Grasp
3: Grasp/Uproot
4: Uproot/Grasp
5: Grasp/Uproot
6: Willowmaker
7: Grasp (maxed out)/Uproot
8: Uproot/Grasp
9: Uproot (maxed out)/Grasp
10: Clearcutting
11: Willowmaker
12-14: Clearcutting (maxed out)
15: Stats
16: Willowmaker (maxed out)
17-25: Stats
Explanation: The explanation is pretty simple. It's not easy to hit a root. I don't care if you're pro and have been playing Pirate from DotA since he came out, you're still not going to hit Grasp every time (by itself), no matter WHAT you do.
So Grasp sucks, why bother even telling us to get it? You might ask. Well it doesn't suck! With a lane partner like electrician, Dsham, Voodoo Jester, ANYONE with a reliable slow or stun, you want to get your Grasp because it will be very easy to hit with. If you're laning with a Pyro or Torturer, you're going to be the reliable slow for them. Your Oakbold/Uproot is a very powerful slow/mini-stun. You can't hit Grasp by yourself anyway, so you might as well help your lane partner. Even if they have no stuns like a Disciple, you still want to get Uproot.
Obviously, take your ult as soon as possible. If you can't understand why, you need to check out another guide on what Heroes of Newerth is (I recommend Meowshi's guide).
And of course, if you're soloing mid you're going to be focusing on last hitting and denying until level six, and a maxed Grasp won't help you there.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Item build: The item build of Deadwood varies quite a bit from game to game. The items listed as core are items you should get. Period. The Luxary items are just barely recommended and only if you get farmed.
- Fortified Bracers (optional, 510 g each, Always a great pick up for every hero)
- Wards (200g each, wards are always helpful)
- Bottle (600 g, you gank, this is THE item for gankers)
- Phase Boots (1500g, optional. You sometimes can afford these, sometimes you don't even need them. Make your own decisions on whether you can leave your boots as marchers or make them Enhanced.)
- Shaman's Headdress (optional, applies if other team has many nukes, 2250 g)
- Portal key (2150 g, another great ganker item)
- Power Supply (519 g, a good item on every hero)
Start off with a few totems for your Power Supply, some +3 str claws if you want, a courier if nobody else wants to get one, and really just whatever you think you'll need. I'll typically go 4 +3 str claws just because I'm that badass, but I could see some of you guys needed regen in HP pots or runes of the blight.
Then, take your courier (or walk all the ******* way back to base) and pick up your bottle. It's really hard to gank without a bottle or power supply, and I wouldn't recommend it. Make that nymph but the courier. It's her job.
Anyway eventually work your way up to the items I've listed. Some wards never hurt anyone, and if nobody else is willing to get them, buy some. Wards ALWAYS help.
Luxury items: In case you get some farm, getShield Breaker. Maybe a Demonic Breastplate Maybe even a Heart or Frostfield Plate. These items don't really do too much. In the stage of the game where you have all three of these items and your core, you're past your prime.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Laning:
A really great time for a good Deadwood. Hell, even a bad Deadwood is good in this phase. You throw your Oakbolt, cast root immediately in front of them, maybe pick up a new tree, bash the **** out of them. If with a baller ally, repeat but with more own.
The only part of this phase that is not intuitive is that Grasp is really easy to hit with. If you have an ally that can stun, great, they're dead. If not, you can still throw your Oakbolt and Grasp them. I'm repeating myself because this is all you will do in this phase of the game. Ganking starts early!
Ganking:
**** gets real! If you took solo mid you took it so you'd get level six early. After cleaning up your lane, go to another lane and do the same thing. Oakbolt (or an ally's stun/slow), Grasp them, walk up, and Falcon Punch crap out of them. If you did it right, they should call Deadwood imba, and then insult S2 for crappy balancing. Don't worry if they don't though, you can just go to a different lane and wreck them there.
You have a 1500 ranged immobilize, 650 range slow/ministun, a close range stun/slow and a blink dagger. Do not let them initiate on you or see you before you want them to.
Don't be afraid to farm during this stage in the game. This isn't a support hero that steals farm away from a real carry. You are very good with items. It just shouldn't be a priority.
Team fights:
As opposed to other gankers, you don't lose effectiveness in team fights. A grasp when they're all fighting will easily hit two, three or maybe more. Combo'd up with an aoe stun, you can be sure to win that fight. Willowmaker a very important hero, like a Puppet Master or Arachna. Be sure not to Willowmaker a tank: it's just stupid. Bash away with your tree in hand, and when someone runs away throw your tree and hit them more.
Blink after them, and hit them more.
Simple stuff. You can do it, I promise.
Other:
Some people aren't sure when to gank and when they can win. True story: If it's 3v2, you ALWAYS win. Your ult will wreck one of them, turning it into a 3v1 very quickly. Do not be afraid to tower dive to get a kill, but don't kill yourself to get a kill unless it's on a carry. You have a bottle and a Power Supply. Use them after and during ganks to make sure you stay alive.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
So this is the end of my first guide. Again I would like to thank Norroar for answering my questions, and Trainingday for the awesome format. As this is in the Drafts section, I would love to hear feedback and flame about anything in my guide. Thanks!
I have to give a few thanks. First, to Trainingday/TinyBlkTears for letting me (I hope) shamelessly steal his guide format. His guides were amazing and I feel I cannot go wrong by following the style. Next to Norroar. He has inspired me to get on a smurf account that only plays deadwood to learn how to play him.
Learns Rotten Grasp, Uproot, Clearcutting, Willowmaker
Disclaimer: I don't want to mess with the formatting of this guide so I'm leaving this part in here. Anyway.
Deadwood is a GANKER. He can carry, yes, but should you be farming for 40 minutes in the jungle and come out with 4 mock of brilliances? Absolutely not. (Not even three of them. Haha). You play effectively the same role any other ganker does. Deadwood is really too new to classify whether he is imba or underpowered (though most see him as imba), so I'll go through his skills and their uses one by one, and eventually tell you how to combo them together.
Skills:
Rotton Grasp: Calling upon the deep corruption underground, Deadwood can root anyone standing in the targeted area after a short delay.
Target: Area
Type: Magic
Casting Range: 1500
Radius: 200
Time Rooted: 1.0/1.7/2.3/3.0 seconds
Mana cost: 120
Cooldown: 13 seconds
Cast Time: .5 Seconds
Trigger Time: 1.5 seconds
Applies Rotton Grasp to all units in the radius or all units that walk into the radius. Deals 100 damage per second. Immobilizes target. -2/-3/-4/-5 armor to all that enter.
Notes: Hope I didn't miss anything. This is one of the best ganking skills in the game. At 1500 range, and AoE, you don't need to be worried about being sighted before you cast it, and it synergizes great with your second/third skill. Although hitting this is pretty hard, we have a great alternative to hoping we can predict where they will go. This spell will also hit units that walk into it after it's casted similar to Tempest's ultimate.
Uproot/[Oakbolt]: Deadwood can turn any tree into a weapon by simply tearing it out of the ground. While holding a tree, he can throw it at an enemy, mini-stunning and snaring them. (Note: Since there are two skills the one in is Oakbolt)
Type: Target Tree[Tree or Enemy Unit]
Mana cost: 60[0]
Gives +15/+30/+45/+60 damage
When used, gives 5/6/7/8 charges to attack with a tree [slows targeted unit].
Deals 30/60/90/120 damage when thrown.
Has 100[650] range.
Cooldown of 15 seconds.
Notes: Completely baller skill. This CANNOT be avoided unless they blink dodge idk. But yeah I mean it's a pretty good skill. The little pick up tree thing gives you great damage to go with your root. What's pretty cool is that you can destroy a tree with this ability too. If you have full mana and there aren't any creeps or something, or you need to kill your nemesis? Tree Eyes, you can throw your tree onto a tree, and pick up a new tree. It's kind of helpful sometimes.
I'll discuss how to use this skill in end of my guide.
Tree-Walk (Now walk it out?): Deadwood, not known for his love of nature, can gain the ability to destroy trees he walks through. Empowered by the destruction he caused, Deadwood gains movement speed, attack speed, and slow resistance when destroying trees.
Target: Self
Mana cost: 50
Cooldown: 25 seconds
Applies Clearcutting to self for 12/14/16/18 seconds. Any tree run through and killed grants on charge. Maximum of 1/2/3/4 charges.
Each Charge grants:
+3% Movement Speed
+15 Attack Speed
+25% Slow Resistance
Notes: This skill is extremely straightforward. If you're going to kill someone, run through trees to get to them. There really isn't anything to say. Maybe just remember to use this when you escape.
One of the most underutilized things in HoN is fog. If you run in a circle around a tree, your enemy will have a very hard time following you since you are faster than him anyway. Remember to cut out your own paths and see if you can TP away while hiding in a space with only enough room for one person.
Willowmaker: An ageless and powerful force, Deadwood uses his stump arm to punch an enemy, dealing massive damage. The hit is so powerful a wave of force echoes behind the target, weakening those it hits.
Target: Enemy Unit
Range: 150 at all levels
Mana cost: 100/150/200
Cooldown: 105/85/65
If a unit is targetted, deals 400/600/800 Physical Damage and stuns the target for 1 second. Any enemy in a 90 degree 600 distance cone behind the target has Willowmaker applied to them for 5 seconds and are slowed for 1 second.
If the ground is targetted (PLEASE NEVER EVER DO THIS), no damage or stun occurs. The cone debuff still takes place from the point of impact.
Lowers the total strenth by 20/30/40%
Notes: What makes you such a great ganker. The damage is calculated after the strength is removed and this allows you to one hit almost every int hero. It's what makes you considered imba by some. Just an all around wrecking machine move. The only way to mess up with this ability is to misclick a creep or hit the ground. The cool down is fairly short, so if you can get a kill with it USE IT.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Core Analysis: This is where we analyze hero-specific stuff like stat/stat gain and movespeed.
So obviously Deadwood is a strength hero, and like his Cousin or brother or whatever KotF, he has a very high strength gain (refer to the picture at the top for the specifics). His agility is mediocre, and useless, and his int is pretty poor. He tanks himself up really quickly by doing nothing. Huge base strength as well. You ARE the tank for your team.
His base armor is 4.24, and his movement speed is 300. Nothing special (though his movement speed does seem low, it's not really a problem with his other skills).
All in all, just watch out and don't do anything stupid because you have some extra HP. It's enough to get you through a failed gank or team fight alive, but not enough to solo the fountain.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Skill build:
I'm going to have to offer you a choice here. Follow this questionnaire. Do you have a good lane partner that can stun and/or slow? Follow A. Are you not sure if your team mate is good/soloing mid/bot/top? Follow B. The format goes: Level: A/B
1: Uproot
2: Grasp
3: Grasp/Uproot
4: Uproot/Grasp
5: Grasp/Uproot
6: Willowmaker
7: Grasp (maxed out)/Uproot
8: Uproot/Grasp
9: Uproot (maxed out)/Grasp
10: Clearcutting
11: Willowmaker
12-14: Clearcutting (maxed out)
15: Stats
16: Willowmaker (maxed out)
17-25: Stats
Explanation: The explanation is pretty simple. It's not easy to hit a root. I don't care if you're pro and have been playing Pirate from DotA since he came out, you're still not going to hit Grasp every time (by itself), no matter WHAT you do.
So Grasp sucks, why bother even telling us to get it? You might ask. Well it doesn't suck! With a lane partner like electrician, Dsham, Voodoo Jester, ANYONE with a reliable slow or stun, you want to get your Grasp because it will be very easy to hit with. If you're laning with a Pyro or Torturer, you're going to be the reliable slow for them. Your Oakbold/Uproot is a very powerful slow/mini-stun. You can't hit Grasp by yourself anyway, so you might as well help your lane partner. Even if they have no stuns like a Disciple, you still want to get Uproot.
Obviously, take your ult as soon as possible. If you can't understand why, you need to check out another guide on what Heroes of Newerth is (I recommend Meowshi's guide).
And of course, if you're soloing mid you're going to be focusing on last hitting and denying until level six, and a maxed Grasp won't help you there.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Item build: The item build of Deadwood varies quite a bit from game to game. The items listed as core are items you should get. Period. The Luxary items are just barely recommended and only if you get farmed.
- Fortified Bracers (optional, 510 g each, Always a great pick up for every hero)
- Wards (200g each, wards are always helpful)
- Bottle (600 g, you gank, this is THE item for gankers)
- Phase Boots (1500g, optional. You sometimes can afford these, sometimes you don't even need them. Make your own decisions on whether you can leave your boots as marchers or make them Enhanced.)
- Shaman's Headdress (optional, applies if other team has many nukes, 2250 g)
- Portal key (2150 g, another great ganker item)
- Power Supply (519 g, a good item on every hero)
Start off with a few totems for your Power Supply, some +3 str claws if you want, a courier if nobody else wants to get one, and really just whatever you think you'll need. I'll typically go 4 +3 str claws just because I'm that badass, but I could see some of you guys needed regen in HP pots or runes of the blight.
Then, take your courier (or walk all the ******* way back to base) and pick up your bottle. It's really hard to gank without a bottle or power supply, and I wouldn't recommend it. Make that nymph but the courier. It's her job.
Anyway eventually work your way up to the items I've listed. Some wards never hurt anyone, and if nobody else is willing to get them, buy some. Wards ALWAYS help.
Luxury items: In case you get some farm, getShield Breaker. Maybe a Demonic Breastplate Maybe even a Heart or Frostfield Plate. These items don't really do too much. In the stage of the game where you have all three of these items and your core, you're past your prime.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Laning:
A really great time for a good Deadwood. Hell, even a bad Deadwood is good in this phase. You throw your Oakbolt, cast root immediately in front of them, maybe pick up a new tree, bash the **** out of them. If with a baller ally, repeat but with more own.
The only part of this phase that is not intuitive is that Grasp is really easy to hit with. If you have an ally that can stun, great, they're dead. If not, you can still throw your Oakbolt and Grasp them. I'm repeating myself because this is all you will do in this phase of the game. Ganking starts early!
Ganking:
**** gets real! If you took solo mid you took it so you'd get level six early. After cleaning up your lane, go to another lane and do the same thing. Oakbolt (or an ally's stun/slow), Grasp them, walk up, and Falcon Punch crap out of them. If you did it right, they should call Deadwood imba, and then insult S2 for crappy balancing. Don't worry if they don't though, you can just go to a different lane and wreck them there.
You have a 1500 ranged immobilize, 650 range slow/ministun, a close range stun/slow and a blink dagger. Do not let them initiate on you or see you before you want them to.
Don't be afraid to farm during this stage in the game. This isn't a support hero that steals farm away from a real carry. You are very good with items. It just shouldn't be a priority.
Team fights:
As opposed to other gankers, you don't lose effectiveness in team fights. A grasp when they're all fighting will easily hit two, three or maybe more. Combo'd up with an aoe stun, you can be sure to win that fight. Willowmaker a very important hero, like a Puppet Master or Arachna. Be sure not to Willowmaker a tank: it's just stupid. Bash away with your tree in hand, and when someone runs away throw your tree and hit them more.
Blink after them, and hit them more.
Simple stuff. You can do it, I promise.
Other:
Some people aren't sure when to gank and when they can win. True story: If it's 3v2, you ALWAYS win. Your ult will wreck one of them, turning it into a 3v1 very quickly. Do not be afraid to tower dive to get a kill, but don't kill yourself to get a kill unless it's on a carry. You have a bottle and a Power Supply. Use them after and during ganks to make sure you stay alive.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
So this is the end of my first guide. Again I would like to thank Norroar for answering my questions, and Trainingday for the awesome format. As this is in the Drafts section, I would love to hear feedback and flame about anything in my guide. Thanks!